Self-Critique v Self-Hatred

I ran across the following quote in a book review of Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam, by Joseph Ratzinger and Marcello Pera. (Review by John Jay Hughes.)

“Of course Europe, and the West in general, have made many mistakes. But the West's most significant merit, Dr. Pera writes, quoting the Peruvian writer Maria Vargas Llosa, 'has been its ability to be self-critical.' Today, however, self-criticism has become 'a peculiar Western self-hatred that is nothing short of pathological,' Cardinal Ratzinger writes. 'It is commendable that the West is trying to be more open, to be more understanding of the values of outsiders, but it has lost all capacity for self-love. All that it sees in its own history is the despicable and the destructive; it is no longer able to perceive what is great and pure.'"

What struck me is how easily it is for us Christians to do this: to fall from self-criticism into self-hatred. And if we who are salting and lighting and leavening the cultures in which we live are doing this, what hope is there for the nations in which we live.

Serious Christians want to walk right, be right, do right. So as to accomplish this, we seriously go about evaluating and critiquing ourselves. “Wrong here, wrong there, bad here, bad there,” etc. The challenge, as the then Cardinal Ratzinger noted, is the refusal to see “what is great and pure” about us, which then turns into self-hatred.

Self-hatred is not a virtue: it is not synonymous with humility, as humility is the act of agreeing with God. Yes, you fail, have failed, and will fail again, but you also have accomplished good, and have many attributes which honor both you and God. Humility requires that you see that both good and bad are true of you. Yet, if all you choose to see are your failures, what happens to your ability to maintain what is “great and pure,” and to continue doing good?

How are we to love others as ourselves, if we do not love ourselves?

God: I see this “good” in you
You: Not so, Lord, I am nothing but a worm
God: You are telling me that I am wrong about you? Don’t you think that’s a tad arrogant … hmmmmm?

Falling down and failing is a part of the human condition: this is not an excuse for falling down, simply a humble acknowledgment of reality. However, why choose to define yourself solely by such failures? Yes, seeing pretty much only the good in yourself leads to arrogance, but seeing only the bad leads to self-hatred, which is just as deadly to spiritual and psychological health.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2008